The EastAfrican 28 BEHIND THE HEADLINES Kenya assures Western friends on ties Tanzania to issue e-passport The cause of high food prices Shabaab bomb strategic Somali town OUTLOOK MARCH 22-28,2014 T I T B I T S The News: Kenya will continue to strengthen ties with its development partners from the West and Africa, Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed has said. The Lowdown: The government has been accused of shunning Kenya’s traditional Western friends and instead “looking East,” mainly increasing relations with China. But Ms Mohammed said this has not affected ties with the rest of the world. Although the country’s foreign policy under President Uhuru Kenyatta will largely remain “Afrocentric,” the minister said the country will not shun the traditional Western friends. The News: Tanzania intends to replace citizen passports with a technologically advanced e-passport, Immigration officials have announced. The Lowdown: The new passport, according to Commissioner Abbas Irovya, will come with tamper-proof electronic features and help the department reduce misuse or fraud associated with the current manual passport issuance system. The e-passport will be introduced alongside modernisation of services at Immigration. It will contain a contactless integrated circuit chip that stores biometric data of the holder and other encrypted identification data. The News: Ugandan activists have protested against rampant deforestation, blaming it for the reduction in food supply, which has caused an increase in food prices. The Lowdown: Efrance Nakiyingi, the Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda (ACCU) programme officer, said the country has lost about one quarter of her forests over the past 15 years, which has resulted in weather changes leading to delayed and insufficient rains, floods and mudslides. ”This situation has culminated into prolonged dry seasons leading to a serious reduction in food supply which has then contributed to the increasing food prices,” she said. The News: Al-Shabaab fighters attacked a hotel in a strategic central town of Buuleburde, which the militants lost control of last week. The Lowdown: A car bomb exploded outside the hotel in Buule-burde, where African Union (AU) peacekeepers and Somali army commanders were staying, witnesses told the BBC. Gunfire continued for five hours and about 14 people — fighters from all sides — died. Al-Shabaab, which is linked to AlQaeda, has waged an eight-year insurgency to overthrow the UN-backed government and create an Islamic state in Somalia. AlShaabab said it was behind the attack. 83 ai≥c≥aft that just fell o≠ the ≥ada≥ Uncertainty still surrounds the fate of the Malaysia Airlines plane flight MH370, which disappeared on March 8 with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board. Malaysian officials say the plane was intentionally diverted and could have flown on either a northern or southern arc from its last known position. More than 20 nations have been asked to help search for flight MH370, and evaluate radar and satellite data. Some objects spotted by satellites on March 16 off Australia have not been confirmed to be pieces of the plane. Some 83 aircraft have been declared “missing” since 1948, according to data compiled by the Aviation Safety Network. The list includes planes capable of carrying more than 14 passengers and no trace of their bodies or debris has ever been found. Large aircraft disappearance and searches since 1948 March 22, 1957 A US Air Force Boeing C -97 c – 35 BO Stratofreighter from California vanished 200 miles southeast of Tokyo. 10 crew and 57 passengers were lost and never found. October 13, 1972 Uruguayan Air Force charter flight carrying 45 people, including a rugby team, crashed in Andes Mountain range in 1972. It took 72 days before the search crew found survivors who had fed on bodies preserved in the snow. January 1, 1985 In 2006, a climbing team on Mt Illamini, Bolivia’s second highest peak, discovered the wreckage of Boeing 727. The Eastern Airlines plane had crashed soon after takeoff in 1985, killing all 29 people aboard. June 1, 2009 Air France Flight 447 carrying 228 passengers and crew got lost at a sea on a transAtlantic flight. It took five days before searches found any debris and two years to locate the actual aircraft and its flight recorders. March 8, 2014 Malaysian Airline Flight 370 departed Kuala Lumpur for Beijing at 12.14 am. Investigators from a dozen countries struggle to solve mystery of the plane’s disappearance.